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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28183785">Therapeutic Descriptions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddyRan22/pseuds/BuddyRan22'>BuddyRan22</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adult Steven Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Therapy, F/F, One Shot, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Wholesome, small mental breakdown</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:15:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,596</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28183785</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddyRan22/pseuds/BuddyRan22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven is a therapist. Lapis is his patient. Peridot is who they talk about. That’s pretty much it, right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lapis Lazuli &amp; Peridot (Steven Universe), Lapis Lazuli &amp; Steven Universe, Lapis Lazuli/Peridot (Steven Universe)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>43</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Therapeutic Descriptions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“So there’s this girl...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The edges of her lips raised while the words flowed out from her mouth, as the thought had been stuck in her mind for a while now. Where her dark eye-bagged eyes were now accompanied by a small warm grin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opened her mouth again, only to let out a small and short breathy chortle. Realizing how odd this new experience was to her. As she began to stare elsewhere other than her therapist. Where her eyes stopped once they saw her hands that were painted with different colored paints stuck to her skin. The smile still lingering on her mouth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a slight pause, as the two sat in the pink and beige themed office in silence for a moment. Her therapist, Steven, wore a patient smile as he waited for her to continue. With eyes that searched his patient’s face for any discomfort. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, there were plenty of signs. From the lack of eye-contact to the shifting in her seat. Common displays of which someone would be uncomfortable, or at least nervous. Still, the relaxed expression that was easily seen in her features begged to differ. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was refreshing, for both of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- I met her after our last session, last week.” Her voice was soft, and almost soothingly quiet. “Taking your advice from before, I... decided to ‘express myself’ through art.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She let out another breathy laugh. “Mostly since there was that convenient art supply warehouse just down the road.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven nodded, the bright smile he was showing was practically an understatement from what he was thinking in his head. As this mightiest well have been the first time he had seen Lapis share something she seemed… happy with. Along with actually smiling and laughing that wasn’t some sort of fake smile or laughter that was basically balancing her sanity. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>No, this time, it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>real </span>
  </em>
  <span>.   </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>She ran one of her hands through her short dyed dark blue hair, while still staring at the other free hand. Something that Steven was used to seeing when Lapis was nervous. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To be honest, I really didn’t know what I’d be buying when I entered that store. I just… wandered through the aisles most of the time and  looked at whatever was on the shelves.” Her hand loosed within her hair, slowly gliding to twirl a few strands with a single finger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then, there she was. Just standing there, holding up… I’d say, around 5 packages of different mechanical pencils. Staring at them, as if comparing which one was better.” Her smile widened. “She was this short girl with short blonde messy hair that kinda had this Albert Einstein look. With this jacket from a popular show or soup opera, Camp Pining Hearts I think it was?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other hand that wasn’t twirling her hair soon gave a waving gesture, as she went back to looking at Steven. Her smile was really bright now, even bashful, possibly. “A-anyways. I knew she wasn’t an employee there from the lack of uniform, but I went up to her still! And even asked her if she knew which one was better.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her voice’s octave raised a little in embarrassment while she described it, sounding surprised in herself for even doing something like that before. Where both her hands slowly stopped what they were doing at that moment, reaching towards her face, as to cover the red that was resonating on her cheeks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I'm sorry… I probably shouldn’t be talking about some girl instead of my problems. So you can do your job and everything...” Lapis apologized, looking away from her therapist once again. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>This embarrassed sight of Lapis gave Steven a few curious thoughts, most being very excited at this occurrence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had been a year since Lapis had started therapy with Steven, and it had taken a fairly long time for her to finally open up to him. So this, this was entirely new for him. Yet he knew this was a very, very good step that Lapis had taken in his opinion.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My job is to listen, both your problems and your experiences. But that doesn’t mean both have to be something bad, it could be something good too.” Steven explained, rephrasing a quote that he heard from his old mentor about psychotherapy, from Garnet specifically. His patient smile still plastered on his face. “So if you want to continue talking about her, then go ahead!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lapis’ eyes widened slightly, only to quickly soften and give him a thankful look. Nodding after a few seconds of silence had passed and she had calmed down a bit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She continued. “She just looked at me when I asked her and… smiled. It was so bright, along with these green eyes that were perfectly framed and matched with her glasses. And then she started ranting about the pros and cons of the supplies she was holding. I guess she really liked talking about how smart she was, especially with her huge nerd vocabulary.” She chuckled to herself, more louder than before. It’d sounded almost contagious, especially to Steven and his nature. Still, he kept his professional smile on.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Her ranting actually helped a lot with getting art supplies, saving me money, and... distracting me from things too. After that, we left our separate ways. At the time, I may’ve facepalmed myself for not asking for her number. For… you know, more recommendations for art supplies?” She described with her hands back to gesturing, as if trying to narrate or articulate her experience better. “But she was already gone then.” Her hands flopped to the arm-rests of the chair, before being raised once again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But we kept bumping into each other during the entire week. Eventually, we got to know each other and each other’s phone numbers. Her name is Peridot, a technician who really likes doodling in her dozens of notepads. I even asked her to fix my computer once. You should have seen her, she was yelling on how much I trashed the hard drive somehow. It was actually adorable though.” Now, Lapis’ tan face was already dusted in red as she talked, blushing. “Gemstone names had really gotten popular, huh?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven was the one to quietly laugh at that, remembering the many others he knew with gem based names. Where Lapis was quick to join him. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>They both quieted down soon, leaving the room in silence once again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So. How do you feel about her?” Steven asked, curiosity filling his voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lapis blinked, slightly caught off guard. “What?”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>He repeated. “How do you feel about Peridot?”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>A beat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m-.” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Another beat. Her smile slowly curling to a confused frown. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Happy…?” She sounded </span>
  <em>
    <span>conflicted</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One of her hands was already rising up to her locks of hair to glide through. As the other held onto her raised arm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Should I be feeling happy…? After what I did?” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Her grip on both her arm and hair tightened. As her breathing was slightly becoming more rapid and ragged. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Lap-” Steven tried to stop whatever thought process Lapis was running through her mind. His patient smile already altered to a small frown. He was quickly interrupted. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I- I don’t </span>
  <b>deserve </b>
  <span>to fee-” She was soon cut off by Steven, as a loud:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“PPBBBFFFFFFFFTT.” Brought her back to the room instead of her thoughts. Strangely enough, this was one of the weird ways Steven had learned that always helped whenever Lapis was consumed by her thoughts. Once he stopped, he looked to Lapis with a concerned and worried smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She paused for a second, staring at him. Before suddenly chortling, growing into a more loud laugh that had a few snorts added in between her breaths. The hand running through her hair was now planted on her face, while the other hand had loosened its grip on her arm. Tears had formed at the corner of her eyes, it was one those laughs that was teetered to the edge of insanity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Slowly calming down, she drew a much needed breath. Trying to compose herself. “Sorry Dr. Universe. I guess I just… still haven’t gotten over it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I understand that you haven’t forgiven yourself. But you need to know that both</span>
  <b>
    <em> you and her</em>
  </b>
  <span> were the victims of that relationship. And you have taken great strides to getting better from it.” Sympathy, sympathy was all Steven could think of in her situation, and Lapis knew that. Both slightly frowning more because of it.  </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Another moment of silence plagued the room, although it was quite comforting for both of them after the short outburst. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lapis was the one to open her mouth first, although faltering to manifest words. Before staring back at her colored hands that rested on her lap once again. “I think of her as a friend, that I… </span>
  <em>
    <span>could </span>
  </em>
  <span>trust. Peridot, I mean, even if we met a week ago...” She mumbled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steven smiled at that, nodding. “That’s good to hear.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just immediately after, an alarm erupted through the room. Startling them both for a second, as it signaled that Lapis’ timed session of therapy was over. Steven was quick to silence it as he watched Lapis sigh and began to gather her things, which was only her purse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Next week?” She asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Next week.” Steven confirmed. “Oh, and Lapis. I told you before, just call me Steven.” He added. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lapis gave him a last breathy chuckle as she reached for the office’s door. “Right, sorry Steven.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They smiled at each other, comforting smiles. Before Lapis soon left the office, leaving Steven to be alone. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This possibly is a one-shot, or it might turned into a series. I'm not sure yet, I hope it turns into the latter though. </p><p>Also, I'm not sure If I did justice to actually writing realistic therapy, so fingers-crossed if I did!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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